Post navigation

The Indy Power Rankings Results For March 16, 2015

Here we go with the Top 10 independent stars of the world as well as the top five tag teams of the world this week on the Indy Power Rankings on The Barbwire Blog; where we rank the best professional wrestlers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico, from Europe to Japan. we’ll count down the 10 most popular wrestlers as well as the 5 most popular tag teams in the world this week, hot off the votes from the online poll as well as the votes from independent wrestling writers for the week ending March 16, 2015. Now, on with the countdown!

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of March 16th, 2015

#1 Bubblegum (@Pipbubblegum)-After being #93 in the 2014 IPR 100, he’s well on his way to an even higher ranking in 2015 as the PCW Cruiserweight Champion and ½ of the Infinite Pro Tag Team Champions defeated Ashton Smith at PCW on 3/13, then on 3/14 teamed with Rampage Brown, Sha Samuels and Christopher Daniels to beat Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Will Ospreay & U-Gene, then defeated T-Bone in the semifinals, and then defeated Lionheart in the finals to go 4-0 for the week. Despite some good weeks for a lot of the talent in the Top 10 and beyond, it was obvious that the clear cut choice for #1 this week was a man who receives his first #1 ranking after his PCW performances. He is the first talent from the UK to grab a #1 ranking in 2015. More to come?

#2 Santana Garrett (@BrittanyTNA)-No woman has dominated the Indy Power Rankings since the beginning of the rankings all the way up to now. Santana is the current NWA Women’s Champion and a former Indy Power Rankings People’s Champ. She didn’t need the support from the fans after going 4-0 last week. She defeated Tammy Lynn at I Believe in Wrestling on 3/13 to retain the title, then she beat Lena Taylor & Codie Lane in a triple threat at CWE the same day to retain the title, then beat Ashley Mayberry at I Believe in Wrestling on 3/14 to retain the title yet again, and then beat Andrea the Giant at NWA Signature Pro on 3/15 to wrap up the weekend. Catch her on the Tag Team Top 5 Reveal on 3/25 at 3 PM EST on Elite Podcast Network!

#3 Kongo Kong (@RealKongoKong)-The dominant monsta returns to the Top 10 after 2 successful IWA World Title defenses in the span of just a few days. On 3/12 he defeated Shane Mercer once again to retain the title and then followed that up with a first time matchup vs. Zodiak where he came out on top on 3/15. A 2-0 week is enough to get a wrestler of his prestige and reputation and a very high ranking this week amongst a lot of people who either went 2-0, 3-0, or 4-0. Kongo Kong has turned away every single challenge that has come his way since becoming champion at IWA Mid-South. Well…who’s next? It appears that American Viking is next in line.

#4 Akira Tozawa (@TozawaAkira)-What more can be said about Akira Tozawa this year? He has absolutely CONTROLLED the Indy Power Rankings after racking up THREE #1 rankings and now he’s back yet again. The Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Champion teamed with YAMATO at Dragon Gate on 3/9 to beat Dragon Kid & Kzy and Shachihoko BOY & Super Shisa in a triple threat match, then defeated Jimmy Kanda on 3-14, and then teamed with Shingo Takagi on 3/15 to beat Dia.HEARTS (Kzy and Big R Shimizu) to go 3-0 for the week. This ranking just adds to his potential #1 ranking in the 2015 IPR 100 as currently, that’s where he sits. Can he hang on until December? We shall see.

#5 AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg)-You have to look outside of ROH and NJPW to understand why he’s not even higher this week. This past week he DID however knock off John Hennigan for the FWE Heavyweight Title to add to his growing list of accomplishments on the indies. He is also the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion which is a title that doesn’t really play a role in our rankings, but obviously that type of success is hard to dismiss from the minds of any voter. Despite him garnering most of his success at New Japan and ROH so far in 2015, you should probably still expect to see a lot more of him as he does make frequent rounds on the indies.

#6 Chris Masters (@ChrisMasters310)-He is the NEW PCW Heavyweight Champion after defeating Uhaa Nation in a No DQ, Loser Leaves Town Match over the weekend. After a very good 2014, he’s already on the right path in 2015. He also defeated Dave Rayn on 3/14 to run his weekend record to 2-0 for the week. Solid ranking as Preston City Wrestling played a very large part in the Indy Power Rankings this week, proving that UK talent and UK promotions DO get the respect from the official voters when the timing is right.

#7 Minoru Suzuki-Despite so many people with multiple wins, it would be impossible to ignore the HUGE single win by Minoru Suzuki as he became the NEW GHC Heavyweight Champion over the weekend after knocking off Naomichi Marufuji for the prize. If he had just one or two more victories/matches over the weekend, he would likely be even higher in the Indy Power Rankings this week, but for now, with so many wrestlers with multiple victories, he gets slotted in right at #7.

#8 Dave Crist (@OIFK1324)-1/2 of OI4K is a title collector on the indies right now, but it was his two title defenses that got him his ranking this week. First, he defeated Jake Omen at Rockstar Pro to retain the American Luchacore Title on 3/11, and then he teamed with Jake Crist at CZW on 3/14 to beat Danny Havoc & Devon Moore to retain the CZW World Tag Team Titles. 2015 has undoubtedly been a year that has been dominated by the Crist Brothers with their title wins everywhere they go, which is true in both singles and tags. Can Dave surpass Jake for the higher spot in this year’s IPR 100?

#9 John Wayne Murdoch (@johnmurdoch25)-“The Duke” drops some from last week due to heavy competition but continues to hang around the Top 10 as 2015 is shaping up to be even better than 2014 so far. He defeated Joseph Schwartz at IWA Mid-South on 3/12 in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match and then followed that up with a MOTN candidate when he teamed with Reed Bentley to defeat The Hooligans on 3/15 at IWA’s Prince of the Death Matches 2015. With a 2-0 week and 5 straight victories, JWM continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

#10 Red Devil-As if further proof was needed that the Indy Power Rankings are truly international, we get representation from Italy this week in the Top 10 as the ICW Italian Heavyweight Champion went 4-0 for the week, as he defeated Stelvio L’Alpinio on 3/13 to retain the title, then defeated Andy Manero on 3/14 to retain the title, then defeated Maestro Manuel Majoli on 3/15 to retain the title, and then finished off the weekend as he teamed with Danny Angel & Nick Lenders to beat Alessandro Corleone, Killer Mask and Superstar Simon Silas. This is his first appearance in the Top 10 and with a weekend like this, you can definitely expect to see more of him if he can build on it this year.

People’s Champ. Teddy King (@JoshuaKing992)-The online voting competition was another hard fought battle this week as Teddy King battled it out with James Anthony and Victor Andrews, but ultimately came out on top with an impressive 122 votes. This is his 2nd People’s Champ award this year and we expect more from him as he is the WWA Heavyweight Champion and the NEW WWA National Champion after defeating Kahn on 3/14 to win the title.

Honorable Mention. Charlie Kid-NEW ICW Campione del Cartoomics; teamed with Doblone on 3/13 in Italy to beat Alex Flash & Bon Giovanni, then on 3/14 defeated The Joker to win the title, then successfully defended the title against Psycho Mike the same night to go 3-0 for the week.

#1 AR Fox & Moose-It would have taken a special week/weekend for a team to knock The Young Bucks from their top spot after going undefeated this past week. That’s exactly what we got from this team. They are the NEW SWA Tag Team Champions as on 3/13 they defeated Cedric Alexander & Rob Killjoy in a first round match, then on 3/14 defeated Joey Ford & Eric Anton in the quarterfinals, then defeated High Profile (Shea Shea McGrady & Will Demented) in the semifinals, and then defeated Joshua Cutshall & James Drake in the final to win the Rhymer Cup and the tag titles and go 4-0 for the week. Just an incredible weekend for a team that looks to be just getting started as a force together on the indies.

#2 Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)-Yes, they got knocked from the top spot this week, but #2 is nothing to be ashamed of considering who took the top spot. The FWE Tag Team Champions started the week off with a victory over The Colony (Worker Ant & Fire Ant) on 3/11 to retain the titles and then defeated Vermin at FCW on 3/13 to go 2-0 for the week. With 4 straight victories outside of ROH and New Japan, they are starting to string together wins to go with their reputation as the absolute best tag team in the world, period.

#3 Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.)-The GHC Tag Team Champions got a lot of respect this week as they beat last week’s #5 in TMDK on 3/15 to retain the titles. HUGE victory for one of the best tag teams going today. They have won 3 straight matches and 8 of their last 9 matches. It’s been a solid start to 2015 for this tag team who have been tearing it up from one side of the world to the other. NOAH featured representation in both the Indy Power Rankings AND the Tag Team Top 5 this week. We’ve talked about Dragon Gate’s dominance of the rankings this year, but you can’t overlook what NOAH has done either.

#4 The Millenials (T-Hawk & La Flamita)-It wouldn’t feel like the Tag Team Top 5 if we didn’t have Dragon Gate representation and well, we do this week from a first time team to the rankings. This team defeated Naruki Doi and Mondai Ryu on 3/9 at Dragon Gate, then defeated CIMA and Gamma on 3/14, and then defeated Jimmyz (Jimmy Kanda and Jimmy Kagetora) on 3/15 to go 3-0 for the week. With 3 big wins, it was impossible to keep them out of the Tag Team Top 5 despite them being new to it. Can they build on this? If Dragon Gate’s history this year is any indication, then you know they can and will.

#5 The Gatecrashers (Christopher Saynt & Dave Conrad)-Another team that went 3-0 gets themselves into the Top 5 this week as we get more newcomers to the rankings. This team defeated The Masked Avengers (Solar & The Tornado) at SWA on 3/13, then defeated Andy Wild in a two-on-one handicap match at Discovery Wrestling on 3/14, and then defeated Danny Boy Rogers and an unknown partner at ICW on 3/15. It was an impressive week for this team and as always, it’s good to see new teams kicking down the door to the Tag Team Top 5.

People’s Champs. Team IOU @TeamIOU (Kerry Awful @KerryAwful & Nick Iggy @IggyNJ210)-BACK TO BACK! That would be the headline if we wrote a newspaper about the Indy Power Rankings & The Tag Team Top 5. “A boy and his dog” picked up a win vs. James Arp and Nick Lowe on 3/13 at SWF to get themselves on the poll, and then they fought it out with the Eastside Elite to grab their 2nd straight “People’s Champs” award. With PGP’s Tag Team Title Tournament this weekend, they’ve got big things coming up, hoping to prove that IOU ARE on right back on the right track.

And there you have it, the 10 of the most popular independent wrestling stars as well as the 5 most popular independent tag teams of the world as voted by the fans as well as independent wrestling writers across the country. To check out their official web site where YOU can participate in the weekly online poll voting, visit indypowerrankingsipr.wordpress.com as well as their Facebook page at http://www.Facebook.com/IndyPowerRankings. They can be found on Twitter @IndyPowerRankin. They can also be found on Instagram @IndyPowerRankings.

You can follow me on Twitter @matthewhollie as well as The Barbwire Blog’s official accounts:
Twitter: @BarbwireBlog
Facebook: Facebook.com/TheBarbwireBlog
Tumblr: barbwireblog.tumblr.com
Instagram: @barbwireblog